Eiryss (Alternate Sculpt): Painting Guide

(Larger Version on flickr)

I’ve had this miniature since the No Quarter promotion and just didn’t make time to paint it until now. That’s probably because I’ve been proxying Eiryss with the Ordic Pistolier miniature which I quite like. I didn’t pick up the original Eiryss because I really didn’t like the sculpt. This alternate version is much more subtle and the advancing posture with her weapons at the ready underpins the supreme confidence she has in her skills. Anyway, last night I took out the painting tray and got stuck in. Looking at the image timestamps I can see that the complete paint job took less than two hours and for a character that I use very often I think that is a respectable amount of time to spend.

Photo 1 This is the starting point. Once the miniature was cleaned and assembled I brushed on a watered down Chaos Black undercoat (I’m low on black spray!). I want the final colours to be muted as Eiryss is all about hiding in plain sight, so a black base allows me to achieve a duller finish.

Photo 2 I begin drybrushing in a similar manner to how I tackled Gorman di Wulfe. Scorched Brown was applied in a heavy drybrush using a flat headed brush. I generally try to drybrush from just one direction so the highlight is consistent. In this instance I brushed downwards.

Photo 3 I added Graveyard Earth to the Scorched Brown base in 3 increasingly light drybrushes and then began adding Bleached Bone to this mix for another 3 drybrushes. This give me a good basis for starting on the other colours.

Photo 4 The flesh, eyes and lips were tackled next. I started adding Elf Flesh to the previous mix and drybrushing it (moderately heavily) onto the specific flesh areas. I did this in 3 increasingly light coats and then picked out cheek and eyebrow detail in pure Elf Flesh. don’t forget to paint the fingers as the gloves are fingerless and the flesh shows through. This was washed with a very light Gryphonne Sepia wash. For the eyes I carefully coated them in Kommando Khaki and dotted the pupil with Chaos Black (deliberately giving her a sideways glance). Her lips were drybrushed with Elf Flesh and a dot of Scab Red.

Photo 5a The cloak received a bit more attention at this stage with a drybrush of Snakebite Leather and then two more coats adding Bleached Bone.

Photo 5b This photo shows the back of the cloak.

Photo 6 Now it’s time to get into more detailing. I worked on the bodice and top of the stockings next. This is a 1:1 mix of Vallejo Middlestone and Vallejo Green Grey with Bleached Bone added for highlights. The scarf and arrow feathers were picked out with Bleached Bone.

Photo 7 The boots are next with the main part being drybrushed with Bestial Brown and then washed with a mix of Badab Black and Devlan Mud (my standard ‘miracle’ wash).

Photo 8 The next two steps add the metallic detail of the chainmail and the sword, including buckles, clasps and buttons. I used Boltgun Metal for the grey metals (armour, crossbow blade and sword blade) with the Mithril Silver highlight. This was washed with Badab Black. I also painted the sword leather handle with Bestial Brown.

Photo 9The brass metals (sword hilt, clasps at the top of the cloak, suspender clasps, buckles, crossbow detail, etc.) are P3 Brass Balls with some Graveyard Earth added. In this step I also painted the gloves and boot using Orkhide Shade and highlighted them with Knarloc Green.

Photo 10 This is the final stage. I used Bestial Brown to pick out most of the leather details, including the belts and straps. I used Snakebite Leather to lightly highlight the arrow quiver on her back. The wood on the crossbow was painted with a 1:1 blend of Bestial Brown and Snakebite Leather. The suspenders were painted in a Bleached Bone and Vallejo Green Grey (3:1) mix. Finally, all non flesh areas were washed with the miracle wash and that’s that.

Photo Final (Front)
Photo Final (Back)

All that remains now is to base and varnish her and Eiryss is ready to replace her proxy.

Owen